Rail-joint.



No. 707,447. 4 Patented Aug. l9, I902.

' D. H. NOBLE.

BAIL JO T minio- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL HERBERT NOBLE, or SHERIDAN, MONTANA.

RAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent R0. 707,447, dated August 19, 1902. Application filed October 18, 1901. 'Serial No. 79,099. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL HERBERT No- BLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sheridan, in the county of Madison and State of Montana, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Rail-Joints; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which itappertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to rail-joints; and it consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be hereinafter clearly set forth, and illustrated-in the accompanying drawings, made a part of this'application.

The object of my invention is to provide means for uniting the ends of rails employed informing a railway-track, and while I shall describe the preferred construction deemed most desirable it will be understood that I wish to comprehendsuch substantial equivalents and modifications as inaybe considered to fall fairly within the scope of my in;- vention. In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan View of two endsof a rail fitted in a special manner to cooperate with eachother, whereby the strength of the union thus formed will be all that can be desired. Fig. 2 is aperspective View of one of the'rails so shaped as to form the style of joint or union illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a top'view of the end of the rail shown in Fig. 2.

In order to conveniently, refer to the sev: eral features of my invention and their cooperating accessories, numerals will be emp loyed,of which 1 and 2 illustrate theends of two separate rails .offa railway-track, while the line of juncture extending from the numeral 3 to the numeral 4 illustrates the prefer-red form of shaping the ends of the rails so as to provide the form. of union illustrated By reference to Figs. 1 and 2 it willbe observed that a vertical cut is made upon the meeting ends of the two rails, so as to provide the surfaces indicated by the numerals 5, 6, 7, and 8 and the laterally-extending surfaces 9, said parts being the same on both rails,- and it is therefore obvious that when the two rails thus shaped are brought together they will interlock or cooperate with each other to provide the line of union indicated by the numerals 3 and. 4. By thus constructing the ends of the two rails it'will be observed that the longitudinal expansion and contraction of the rails will be in no wise interfered with or limited. When'the rails thus shaped are joined.toge'ther,.t hey are permanently secured in-snch'cooperating position by means of the Iusualfish-plates, one' upon each side of the web 11, the plates being locked imposition by passing the retaining-bolts 12 through suitable apertures 13 as. illustrated in Fig. 2.

' The surface'indicated by the numeral 5 being the same upon jboth' railmit-is obvious that when the rails'contract said surfaceswill move away from each other, leaving a slight crack-or opening which will again be closed upon the extension of the rails, the contacting surfaces 6 upon the two rails merely moving or rubbing against each otherduring the operation of contraction and expansion.

It deemed desirable, the apertures .13 in thewebof the rail may be made slightly elliptical to coinpensate for any expansion of the rails, and thus taking a severe strain of such expansion olf 6f the bolts 12, as will beiucident to the use of 'my'improved railjoint,'it being understood 'thatany preferrednumber of bolts 12 maybe employed or that any preferred variety of fish-platemay be used. The ends of the rails may be very quickly and expeditiously shaped in the manner above described by suitable tools or appliances, thus I reducing the work of uniting the ends of two rails'together to a minimum.

While I have described and herein illustrated the preferred construction which may be adopted in providing-a suitable lockingjoint for rails, it will'be understood thatI desire to comprehend in this application all such substantial equivalents and modifications as may be considered .to' fall fairly within the scope of'my invention. j Having thus fullydescribe'd the construction and manner of applying myinvention to use, further reference to thedetails is unnecessary. v

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Pate'nt,- is-- A rail-joint consisting in so shaping the meeting ends of each rail that eachend will be provided with an obliquely-disposed surface 5 inits central or rib portion, each railalso having the longitudinally-disposed sun I In testimony whereof I affix my'signature facles 6, 7 and 8 paralleling each other, each in presence of two witnesses. ml being further provided with'the transversely-(lisposedsurfaees 9, said parts on each DANIEL HERBERT B 5 rail being parallel with the parts on the other Witnesses: 3

rail all substantially as specified and for the CHAS. R. GLOSSER, purposeset fo'rth. R.- J OGDEN. 

